Department of Human Services Has Become A Department of Horrors
As long as I can remember, I’ve been on newscasts reporting the stories of how the Department of Human Services in Philadelphia has let down so many children who have died of neglect and abuse. This is not a new story. It has been going on for decades, but this time the story of a gruesome death has brought criminal charges, a grand jury investigation and a DA who is determined to seek justice for the death of 14 year old wheelchair bound DANIEAL KELLY. She slowly starved to death. Charges have been filed and some DHS workers face jail time if convicted.
DHS workers, over the years, complain about the social climate that creates these disasters if abuse, but they are way off base. It is the job of the agency to protect the children who are faced with possible torture and death. In that respect, the record of this agency is not pretty.
There’s another aspect of the story that I’ve mentioned here before. The agency, with the area’s greatest need for adoptive families, had for years refused to cooperate with the National Adoption Center as it worked with KYW Newsradio 1060 and Channel Ten to broadcast the stories of children in need. It took Mayor Nutter’s arrival to get the agency to cooperate. Certainly this party of the story pales by comparison to stories of neglect, abuse, and death.
Thank goodness the DA is on the case, and the press is paying more attention, especially the Inky.
There are many dedicated workers at DHS, but they are overshadowed by those who care little about the survival of children.
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It is now three weeks till the start of the conventions, with the Democrats on tap first. Word from my sources is that Hillary Clinton is going through the motions, and has done little to support the Barack Obama candidacy. Meantime, John McCain, whose had a bit of an upswing lately, is facing the same lack of support from Republicans in the swing states of Virginia and Florida who were hoping for a more rightward tilt in the McCain campaign. You heard it here: McCain will not move far right. In fact, his own research says that the only way he can win this election is to stay right on a moderate course politically and hope to attract Independents and Democrats.
Also, look for a return to “retail” politics and away from the big crowd events for Barack Obama. The Obama campaign is feeling a backlash from the “adoration problem,” the positioning of Obama as bigger than life. Look for the candidate to spend more time one-on-one with small groups, a tactic that brought him where he is right now.
Comments(94)
larry,thanks for bringing the disgusting conduct of DHS to the blog.People have no idea what is really going on there and I hope that now it will become a high priority in Philly.
As for obama, I could not believe that he is now calling for Flordia and Michigan to have a full vote after he fought Hillary on this before he was the the presumptive nominee,he has changed or modified his postions so often that I am sure the american people are getting dizzy,This democrate is voting for mccain,of course as a hillary supporter, I still have hope. JR,where are you?
Anytime you mix money, government and poor people you get scams and corruption.
I’m just a poor white guy from the suburbs but I can smell a rotten bureaucratic system miles (literally) away. DHS a 600 million dollar a year pot of gold probably has so many hands in it that the children themselves are just a means to an end (scarfing up a piece of that 600 million). I’m sure lawyers get a piece, doctors get a piece, foster parents get a piece, social workers get a piece, everybody gets a piece except probably the children themselves. What’s to stop a mother from giving her child to her sister and having the sister paid by the government to rear the child. That’s fostering my friend. The sisters split the money have a few more kids and all of the sudden they have a nice business going. Or why not foster 5 or 6 children at 500 dollars a month each. That is also a nice idea. Slip a few dollars to the social worker in case things aren’t quite kosher in the home. Ahhh, American ingenuity. If Charles Dickens, author of Oliver Twist were alive today I’m sure he would be amazed how far we’ve come as a society. Bleeding hearts meet hearts of stone….. Michele Obama might be right. America is a mean country.
Larry, I don’t know if it’s me or you but this subject has not stimulated much debate. I thought by now George would have something provocative to say. The racial implications abound in this story. Politics also come into play. The legacy of John Street in all of it’s glory. The brothers and sisters running the city. I don’t forget and I don’t forgive. Philly is a cesspool and will always be a cesspool as long as we feed it with our tax dollars…..
This is what happens when you run a government agency the way SEPTA is run. Filth and neglect and surly employees in “secure” jobs paid for by taxes. There is so much corruption and bloat in politics in this city that it’s amazing anything gets done. Good luck, Nutter.
Brothers and Sisters, remember this is the City of Brotherly Love. I leave this city to the Quakers and look what happens.
I am so glad that I never made Philadelphia my permanent residence. Even though William laid out a grid work of streets that rivaled Paris it just never seemed to be that friendly. One always hears about Southern hospitality, but when referring to the “City of Brotherly Love”, the usage seems to be satirical.(ie.cops beating on citizens or sports fans throwing snowballs at Santa or DHS workers neglecting the innocent) That is downright mean, nasty, and cold blooded. Can people like the DHS employees really exist? Paid to protect yet go to extreme lengths not to protect. The torture inflicted on that little girl should remain in the hearts and minds of every citizen, as a reminder of how inhuman some humans can be.
When people are underpaid, they react in 2 ways. One, they adjust their level of effort to the perceived level of pay (95% of government workers). Two, they find ways to beat the system or cheat the system. So what is the answer?
Raise the pay of social workers? Liberal do-gooders are in large supply. The good ones do it for 3-5 years and go get a beter paying job. The bad ones stay and adjust. You’d have to significantly increase pay to get the good ones to stay and you’d be overpaying the bad ones. Besides, are you willing to raise taxes to pay social workers?
Second idea would be to eliminate social workers. Economists say that 4% of the general population is unemployable. They further say that 10-12% of the population is dependent on the government for some substantial level of support. What is wrong with this picture? Years of institutionalized government support has led to generations of people dependent on the government. This is a systematic problem that needs to be fixed. Just eliminating social workers won’t fix that problem.
Hire the 10% of people on government assistance to service the DHS clients. If they are good they get off assistance if they are bad, well we are already paying them for doing nothing anyway.
George you may be on to something. However, not sure how much help the useless will be in serving the useless. Actually that might fix the problem.
Time for my scrapple.
Go fly a kite!
I’m going with Bunning and Short every other day until I clinch pennant.
Storm’in Norman Snead is a fine QB.
Happy belated birthday, Norm.
Before you go back to Camden don’t forget to pick up a copy of my book Leaves of Grass.
(Another BIG speech):Flip Flop-Flippity Flop-Flip Flop-Flip Flip Flip Flop-Flippity Flip Flip Flop-Flip Flop Flop Flip.
(crowd 200000 euros)cheers-Obamamia!!
(down the road 50000 harley hogs)ROAR! ROAR!! ROAR!!!
(BIG speech)I said this but I meant that:Flip Flop-Flip Flop-Flip Flip Flippity Flop-I am the Chosen One!!
(crowd 200000 euros)cheers and then turns and runs away
(down the street 50000 harley hogs and 1 schwinn)ROAR!ROAR!!ROAR!!! tick-tick-tick-tick-tick!!
Happy Belated Birthday, Barrack (8/4)
LEO – The Boss (July 2 3 – Aug 22)
Very organized. Need order in their lives – like being in control. Like boundaries. Tend to take over everything. Bossy. Like to help Others. Social and outgoing. Extroverted. Generous, warm-hearted. Sensitive. Creative energy. Full of themselves. Loving. Doing the right thing is important to Leos. Attractive.
Wow,”the cleverness” started early.I doubt if even the Pirates can save this blog now.
Before I left, I believe Backtrack Obama said something about properly inflated tires.What sort of impact will that have on the FREE AIR campaign ? Will gas stations start charging more for air ? Will this be a death knoll for Larry’s visionary stance ? Will Larry confront Barry ? Is this an example of the “retail politics ” we might expect?And finally,where’s the outrage on this blog ?
Ahoy YFAP! Pirates have abandon this blog for Chris Stover. He appears to be a REAL pirate. ;^)
Have not missed anything except George going Archie Bunker on us; a kinder, gentler Leo; a few historical figures and Larry’s lovefest with Philly TV.
Arrrrrgh YFAP, you need to bring this blog back to life. Obama talk shuts it down again. Just think where the polls would be if both he and McCain just kept their mouths shut.
President McCain better become an economy genius (or name Mitt Romney as his VP) quickly because he’s missing the boat. He’s listing in choppy waters.
Now that we have forgotten that ugly image of a little girl starving to death while in her mother’s care we can now move on to more important issues…. free air, finding JR, or planning the next pirate reunion. Those famous historical figures can go back to their graves knowing that we have our priorities in perfect order. The war, politics, crime and of course global warming should not interfere with our quest to locate free air locations. I honestly feel Barak is going to send the price of air through the roof with his pronouncement that properly inflated tires can save on gas. I drove by a pump yesterday and the line of cars waiting to fill up on air was a block long. With demand high and free air locations limited I’m afraid it will take a pirate’s cunning and JR’s doggedness to help solve this national dilemma.
The Olympics SUCK!!!!!!!!!!
JT, you are just bitter because you had your medals stripped away for being a pro baseball player. Bob Costas sucks; the Olympics are great.
Ed, glad you have seen the light. It’s all about free air all the time. Those air lines are around generous gas stations (oxymoron?) are really backing up until Larry gets everyone onto SEPTA.
YFAP, welcome back!
Maybe Mayor Fluffer Nutter could make everyone that rides SEPTA an honorary car cleaner. Little badges. Doors won’t open until car is clean. Watch how fast things get picked up.
I leave for a little while, and historical zombie sock puppets spring up like toadstools.
What about the Chinese limiting the press’s access to the Internet in contravention of what the Chinese had promised? And now they’re keeping Joey Cheek out of the country. I even heard that they are denying FREE AIR to Tibetans.
Paris Hilton burned John McCain with her mocked up political commercial. That guy is a fossil.
By the way, I believe JR is monitoring the site and interjecting comments under a nom-de-plume. All attempts to draw him out into the open have failed to date. He’s lurking there, Jerry, he’s lurking.
I must say, I thought the free air discussion had been beaten into the ground. However, Barrack Obama has introduced tire air pressure into the election, and it appears to be the center piece of his energy policy. And we know if a far left liberal thinks his consituents need something, it will be up to the governemnt to provide it. So Larry your idea to get the state legislature involved in mandating free air is the next logical step, and kudos to you for having such a brilliant idea!
Another idea Obama may want to pursue is to “means test” the affordability of gasoline. For example, those making under $50k per year would get government coupons to reduce gas by $2 per gallon and those making more would be surcharged $2 per gallon, so they’d pay a bit over $6. We can call them gas stamps (like food stamps) and if the poor dont need them they can trade them in for food stamps, or just trade among themselves for illicit things they desire.
It’s a crack pot liberal idea, but brace yourself, it’s coming if Obama is elected. Free air and subsidized gasoline, oh yea and would you like free cheeese with that too! The so called rich will be paying for it all in America’s new socialist regime.
Obama-nomics!
time to fess up.jr accepted the role in my movie (that of sous chef in a remnake of apocalyspe now,starring larry kane as col.kurtz {the horror,the horror} )and the jihadi that was stalking him was way too eager & beheaded him.it was only TAKE TWO.i guess a good analogy would be the old african parable about aiding a snake & getting bitten,”hey, you knew i was a snake “.
TTC, I always thought you were JR. Just another sock puppet I guess.
LB, how ironic is it that PH burns JM on YouTube?
The only sock puppet I use is when I am on the beach in my speedos…..
Down, boy
Paris Hilton’s ad is only going to make McCain seem relevant. She is so dumb that the irony of it will be completely lost in her vacuous mind.
She’s Hot Hot Hot!!!
TFJR, I see you are as vacuous as PH
TRJR, no speedo talk. You need to buy an L.
Haven’t seen this many Jack Russells since Westminster
I guess the pirates are back ;^)
McCain’s YouTube ad about Obama being a God like force is a watershed type add-pure genius. It’s up there with Kerry wind surfing, Dukakis riding in a tank, willie horton going through revolving prison doors- great stuff!
With Obama playing the race card first McCain had ever right to slam him with some white tarts- it’s going to get good after labor day! e.g. “Hey Harold Ford- call me!”
Vacuous….. I wanted empty but empty with absolutely nothing left that could somehow be confused with an iota of a perception of an inkling that somehow Paris has a brain.
Olympics start Saturday, baby!
I resent being refered to as a sock puppet. Faux pirates and founding fathers abound but I get refered to as a sock puppet.
McCain is desperate to flip-flop on the type of campaign he claimed he stood for. This is not an honorable man’s campaign that McCain is running. I guess you have to have low expectations for someone who finished second from the bottom of his class at the academy and who received any real command in the service, despite having admirals up the wazoo in the family tree. Larry won’t like the ageism, but Paris is right about McCain being a wrinkly, white haired guy. The great irony is that McCain is married to Paris Hilton, er, I mean Britney, er, Cindy.
I see the irony as no one ever heard of Paris Hilton until her sex tapes showed up on the internet. Now she’s using a video tape on YouTube to bust McCain. McCain probably had never heard of YouTube before this and his VCR clock is still blinking.
Upon my return I was told there was a kinder,gentler LB in town.Oh well,nothing lasts forever.I’ll wait ’til after the convention.
YFBP, one rich pill popping blonde’s as good as another, right? Maybe there should be a video showing Rush Limbaugh going to the McCains’ for a pharm party. He’ll bring the Viagra and the “hillbilly heroin.” Cindy will bring the Xanax and Vicodin and some beer to wash it down. John will bring sunscreen. Just don’t show him the Queen of Diamonds.
The irony of ironies is the ironic timing
of Paris’s reemergence into the national limelight. Just when we thought her 15 minutes were over, someone somewhere thought to reinvent her as a political voice. A narcissistic rich bitch (former adviser to Britney Spears) has now become a central figure in our presidential election. Man…. the irony of it all………………..cosmic irony that is.
Ed, thank McCain for providing that “service” to America. It’s one gaffe after another with him.
Do you think JR is a blonde?
Mos def but I tend to be pretty conservative.
Leo, McCain simply pointed out a resemblance between Obama’s fame and Paris’s fame. It took someone in the Paris camp to turn a mere mention of Paris into a full blown media campaign.
Mccain’s mistake was in actually knowing who Paris is or knowing someone who knows who Paris is. Who is Paris? and is Paris burning?
Paris was burning after filming her video but anti-biotics fixed that.
That was rather immature ASP#2. You’ll give sock puppets everywhere a bad name.
Leo-C’mon,the ad was kinda funny.A glimpse,if you will,at the kind of humor we’ll get from President McCain.
Ed, leave it up to McCain to think there’s a parallel between being born to a single mother; working hard to do well in school; serving as Harvard Law Review editor in chief, a community organizer, a state senator, and a U.S. Senator and being born into a wealthy family. It shows how short McCain is on analytical ability, which is probably why he needed the patronage of family admirals even to graduate. His ploys are despicable given his former (empty) rhetoric about conducting an “honorable” campaign on the issues. He flip-flopped harder there than Obama has on anything.
Leo-Military families are not wealthy.Not even Admirals families.And there are some who may think that graduating near the bottom at the Naval Academy trumps finishing near the top at Harvard.Flip flops ?After the conventions.I’m on my summer recess.
ASP #2, typical response from a adolescent right winger. Paris’s burning was caused by a close encounter with a farm tractor… You’ve heard about the tractor story haven’t you?
Newman, no but I’m sure it’s riveting. Does it have to do with the Sureal Life or beastiality?
Leo, such hard commentary. First of all he wasn’t born into a single family home(the father failed to come home after Harvard) secondly Obama admits himself he wasn’t a very hardworking student (drugs and alcohol)and thirdly his relationship with Rev Wright helped him to form a political base which was centered on socialism (and a Louie Farrakan connection). To this day I still don’t think he paid one nickle out of his pocket for his education…….
Obama didnt pay a dime for his education, that’s a fact and that’s partially why he sees the American economy through the lens of a socialist. Its just how he was raised and was engrained by how people responded to him , especially when it was clear he was smart, white peole bent over backwards to help him. He is greatful for his free education in the sense that he is not a Jesse Jackson type of race hustler, and recognizes that affirmative action, generous tuiton grants, and well intended whites help get him to where he is today.
But let’s be honest about affirmative action, white woman were huge beneficiaries, and a lot of the successful soccor moms you see today with good corporate jobs are the result of affirmative action. Affirmative action has been good to them and has changed the face of corporate America for the better. Over time hopfully we will need less of it and the advances of white woman and all minorites will be such that its no longer a big issue, we’re probably 60% of the way there now.
YFBP, patronage doesn’t mean wealth. It means connections and influence. McCain is a bigger idiot than Bush. He trades on his chummy presence, not his intellect. Look where that’s gotten us in the past eight years with Bush.
Ed, he was raised by a single mother (and her parents) as you point out. Using drugs and alcohol on occasion doesn’t mean one isn’t a hardworking student. Isn’t it the American dream to do well in school and to get scholarships? If you’re making a racist suggestion that affirmative action is responsible for him, note that he didn’t even indicate he was African-American on his Harvard Law application. Not just anyone can be the editor of the Harvard Law Review. And I don’t know what your third point has to do with anything. Wright doesn’t make Obama into Paris Hilton anymore than Vietnam makes McCain into Sylvester Stalone.
What kind of socks does he wear?
I’m not the one who said either.You have them completely separate.But I’m still on recess, so I’ll let the rest go.
Leo, have you clipped the copy of The New Yorker magazine cover of the Obamas, framed it and put it on your living room wall?
Leo, twisting words won’t get you where you want to go and inserting race is a typical response from a weak argument. Obama was fast tracked into his current position. I just want to know who put him on this track and how it was done. He was at least 27 when he was elected to preside over the Harvard Law Review. I’m sure his rhetoric among some much younger over privileged waste heads made him
“The Man”.
I hope Larry doesn’t make any moey from this blog because he doesn’t deserve one red cent for his effort.
Arguement is getting contentious, boys.
We all know where everyone stands.
BHO was given the keynote speach at the 2004 convention to see if his star would shine. Much the way Kathleen Sebelius was given the State of the Union “opposing view” equal time speach. Had BHO not given that speach in 2004 or created a shining image, HRC would likely be the nominee. Thank goodness that is not the case. (Sorry Pat and JR wherever you are)
There you go. How did some freshman senator get a chance to give the keynote address without ever accomplishing a thing.
Ed, I know a little something about Harvard Law Review and I can tell you that’s not an affirmitive action position ,it pure merit. And since many of you have been harsh with my commetary on race I’m obviously not likely to be making this up. The general cousel at my company was at Harvard with him, and he tell me Obama is the real deal and earned that on his own. I know how smart our general counsel is, so Obama is extreamly intelligent, and none of us should try to dimisish or margianlize that based on race in this politcal battle.
I don’t even think Obama thought he would get this far in the process. Shining young stars are often brought in to get early exposure at conventions. He was in the right place at the right time – lots of good luck.
And if you want to talk affirmative action…Do you think George Bush would have been admitted to an Ivy League grad school without the influence of a politically well connected, legacy, family?
George, you’d better check the credentials of your company’s general counsel. At one time being editor of HLR was based on who had the best grades. That would be a system based on merit. Now the head editor of the HLR is elected by the student editors. Affirmative action made it necessary to change from the merit system to the current popularity election.
George, many people have been jaded by a well meaning but poorly administered affirmative action program based on ethnicity and not merit. It’s not a leap to assume that Obama was a beneficiary of this broken system. We will take you and your legal counsel at your word and determine that Obama was very qualified for Harvard Law Review position.
I believe that Obama was purposely given the keynote speach at the 2004 convention because the Democrats wanted to show a younger, open minded party trying to appeal to everyone and not just machine politics as usual. Failed elections with tired, old time politicians like Dukakis, Gore, and Kerry taught them to rethink their strategy. Why do you think the party leaders privately backed and cheered for Obama over Hillary? They want a chance to win in November.
Ed, refusal to accept the facts is a sign of a weak argument. Do you honestly believe that the editors of the HLR would elect an incompetent to be the editor in chief? You didn’t respond substantively to anything I said, which demonstrates that you share a trait with McCain. Next you’ll be comparing me to Paris Hilton.
Don’t compare me to Leo, Ed!
There you go again Mr Bloom. Trying to twist words to defend your obviously subjective point of view. I mentioned nothing about race, affirmative action or incompetence initially. You are the one who brought those subjects up. Me thinks you doth protest tooooo much. I’m just asking simple questions not slinging mud. Much like your assessment of John McCain. Now that is an objective point of view. Paris would love it….
Leo, if your trying to get next to Paris, good luck. I do however know where you can get a sock puppet that looks just like her. I can’t guarantee the quality. Unfortunately it was made by a company that supports affirmative action.
Leo. you sound like just my type. Google me sometime and ticle my Elmo while your at it. BTW who is this ol geezer Larry Kane? I see his face all over this blog. Is he running for president or something?
This geezer Larry is like never around. He’s like a ghost. The dude is a fossil. Let’s go shop.
The sock puppets are out of control.Totally.
Leo, YFAP is correct. Please reign in the sock puppets. Like ya know.
YFAP, would you like to buy an “e”?
All you boys sound so interesting. Too bad I decided to become gay today. Hey that rhymes!! gay today!! and to think I never went to college. Just to let you know I am coming out with a line of pirate sock puppets that are really exiting. Donald, you know Donald Trump is one of my main backers for this project. Latly I’ve been thinking alot about pirates and sock puppets for some reason.
Ed, I will double check my facts today, but was previously told it was a merit position. If he won it as a popularity contest the voters should know that.
This blog is almost like a Disney Movie. One level of humor for the kids and another for the adults.
Larry, your blog comments section is a mess. Sock puppets abound.
I hope you saw Jon Stewart’s “coverage” of McCain at the Harley Davidson rally in Sturgis, SD. McCain isn’t ready to govern, but he’s gotten better at pandering. He clearly hasn’t become any smarter since he straggled out of the Naval Academy with a “gentleman’s pass” obtained for him by his admiral daddy. If he’s in charge of the executive branch, expect the entire government to perform about as well as DHS did for the poor girl whom you wrote about here.
how do you guys wear your sock pouppets?
very carefully
Do I qualify as a sock puppet or am I from the Royal Academy of Puppets?
Wee eeh, wee eeh, wee hee wee hee
Soupy Sales?
Does White Tooth qualify as a sock puppet?
OOOJ-Where would I put the extra e ? Is there something not spelled correctly ?
Yankke
Don’t ask George or Leo where you can stick the “e”
Domo arrigato.
da nada, mr roboto
Larry, I’m begging you to change the blog topic imnmediately before there are more socket puppets than actual bloggers.
You need to change the blog topic routinely, like your underwear, for the same reason.
93 blog entries.
6 bloggers over 7 blogs.
Total of 31 different bloggers.
4 founding fathers
3 nit wits (judge for yourself)
4 sports figures
a couple of self-proclaimed sock puppets
no JR (maybe he’s TTC)
no Larry (presumably too busy with his libel suit against Chris Stover)
Think it’s time to change blog topic?